Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Freezing levels are uncertain

Tuesday: Mainly sunny with some cloudy periods. Light westerly winds. Freezing level 1500m.Wednesday: Mix of sun and cloud. Freezing level 1800m. Light west winds.Thursday: Mainly cloudy. winds light from the west. Freezing level 1900m.

Recent observations indicate natural slab avalanche activity to size 2 in the alpine. This activity is isolated to the most recent storm snow. In addition loose moist snow avalanches to size 1.5 out of steep solar aspects in the alpine and at tree-line. Expect there to be an increase in natural avalanche activity as the sun shines for extended periods and the air temperatures rise as the week progresses.

See this great video from our South Rockies field team that does an awesome job of summarizing the current state of the mid and lower snowpack.Up to 40cm of recent new snow sits on top of a thick sun crust on solar aspects. 70-90 cm of settling storm snow from the past week rests on a graupel layer that can be found in much of the region. This makes for around 90 cm on top of the mid march crust at this point. This crust exists on all aspects below 2000m and on solar aspects in the high alpine. North of Sparwood and in the Crowsnest Pass area, the buried crust seems more specific to previously sun-exposed slopes. The deep facet/crust persistent weakness buried at the beginning of February (now down 140 to 170cm) seems unlikely to trigger in areas where the hard, supportive crust exists. No matter where you are in the region, this weakness should stay on your radar as any activity at this interface would be large and destructive. Possible triggers include a large cornice fall, a large input in a thin snowpack area or solar warming.